This land, in the 100 year floodplain of the Missouri river, will store coal combustion waste from the AmerenUE Labadie power plant as well as its other plants.

Coal waste contains hazardous substances such as arsenic, selenium, lead, cadmium, mercury, and others that are toxic to humans, animals, and plants. It can accumulate in the environment and remains for hundreds of years creating environmental dangers to this and future generations.

The Missouri River provides drinking water to St Charles and St. Louis Counties. Coal ash and landfills do not belong in a floodplain.

We, the undersigned, are opposed to placing a coal ash utility waste landfill in the Labadie Bottoms floodplain of the Missouri river as proposed by AmerenUE. The proposed landfill will store harmful quantities of toxic heavy metals and other contaminants. Despite Ameren’s assurances of safety, we believe:

• No one can predict nor control flooding that WILL occur on the Missouri River.

• Coal waste contains hazardous substances that are toxic to humans, animals, and plants. These toxins accumulate and remain in the environment for hundreds of years creating the potential for harmful environmental impact for generations to come.

• Monitoring equipment failure, berm failure and leaching of toxins would expose residents of Franklin County, Warren County and downstream communities of St. Charles and St. Louis Counties to surface and groundwater contamination. Environmental disasters, such as the coal ash spill in Kingston TN and the Taum Sauk dam failure, demonstrate how destructive these events can be.

• Transportation of coal waste from other AmerenUE plants by rail, truck and barge could result in dangerous airborne coal fly ash contamination should an accident occur.

We call upon you, our public officials, to join our efforts to STOP THIS LANDFILL by denying all related AmerenUE permit or zoning requests at the County, State, and Federal level. It is the responsibility of government and those we elect to serve all persons in this generation and future generations through the enactment and enforcement of laws that secure a healthy environment.

The Campaign to Save Our Bottoms petition to Elected Officials of Franklin County & State of Missouri was written by Labadie Environmental Organization, Inc. and is in the category
Environment at GoPetition.